With the rise of pig butchering scams and investors losing their hard-earned money, the FBI has been working hard to tackle these issues. Recently, they took on a year-old case involving over 30 victims and the bankruptcy of a Kansas bank. The main culprit, Shane Hanes, the former CEO and President of Heartland Tri-State Bank in Elkhart, Southwest Kansas, was sentenced to 24 years in prison.
This big bust serves as a warning to scammers, with the FBI tightening its approach to such crimes. In the past, the FBI even launched a fake token to expose crypto scams.
FBI Solves Kansas Bank Pig Butchering Scam
Court records show the scam took place in the summer of 2023 when Shane Hanes stole millions from the bank, leading to its collapse. He took $47.1 million from bank customers, made 11 wire transfers, and lost it all in pig butchering scams.
But the damage didn’t stop there. Hanes started his scamming journey by spending $5K on crypto in 2022, only to grow his investments quickly. He embezzled $40,000 from a church, $10,000 from an investment club, and $60,000 from his daughter’s college funds, among other losses. The Associated Press also reported that he lost $1.1 million of his own money in the same scam.
Driven by greed, Hanes hoped one more investment would help him cash out big, dreaming of a $200 million payout. However, scammers manipulated him, leading him to steal millions. In the end, he lost everything, including the hard-earned money of locals, friends, and family.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) covered the losses and rebranded the bank after compensating the victims, but $9 million was still missing, affecting 30 people. Thankfully, the FBI recovered $8.3 million from the Tether account on November 4. During a hearing, victims, including a 70-year-old couple who lost $450K of their retirement funds, came forward to claim their lost money.
While the crypto market continues to grow, scams like these are shaking investor trust. An Immunefi report revealed that $55.1 million was lost in crypto frauds in October alone. Although this is down by 56.6% from the previous month, it brings the total losses for 2024 to $1.4 billion. Many types of scams are becoming harder to detect, which is worrying.
Recently, concerns grew when popular YouTuber Mr. Beast was found to be involved in pump-and-dump crypto scams, leaving investors unsure of what to trust. With scams like pig butchering, pump-and-dump, deepfakes, and exit scams on the rise, the FBI is expected to take even stronger action in the future.